June 30th Recess Cancelled :(

NerdNYC has grown remarkably over the years, and events like Recess have grown with it. The NerdNYC Board and Officers are always looking at new ways to improve our events and make sure everyone participating has a fun, safe time. Recess has always gotten special attention from us, we absolutely love organizing it, and absolutely love the awesome-fun-good times we all share together at Recess.

NerdNYC is a non-profit organization, and as Recess grows, the NerdNYC Board and Officers have to pay close attention to serious matters like fire safety laws, security, and liability issues. As Recess continues to grow, these concerns grow and change with it. After some initial research into these topics and an extended discussion, we have determined that there are several necessary improvements we need to make to Recess.

Now for the bad news:

Because the improvements require substantial preparation, and because Recess itself takes so much effort to put together (all of which is done by volunteers), the Board and Officers have decided to cancel the June 30th Recess event.

This is not a decision that was made lightly or without considerable deliberation. Several alternatives to canceling were considered and rejected for one reason or another. In the end, we do not have the time and resources to make Recess what it needs to be by this date. This is not a matter of not having enough volunteer nerdpower (to everyone who immediately started thinking of ways they might volunteer to help us out, thank you from the bottom of our hearts). It is a matter of not having enough time, since it requires working with outside parties who have their own time restrictions.

We know this will disappoint a lot of you — if not all of you. No one is more disappointed than us. We realize that this especially stings because of the recent postponement of the GGG. We feel that sting sharply. We’ve run Recess multiple times a year for nine years and have never had to cancel; we don’t do so lightly. We regret that we could not reach this decision before announcing the Recess date, and deeply apologize to everyone who was looking forward to Recess in June.

Recess will return.

Barring some unforeseen issue, Boardgame Nights at ThinkCoffee will continue as scheduled. The forums will be here. And we are looking into the possibility of other, smaller events that we hope we can put together before next Recess.

We would like to thank you all in advance for your understanding. To our prospective GMs, hold on to those game ideas for the next time — we will need them when Recess makes it glorious return! To our regular attendees and guests, we thank you for your outstanding support over these wonderful years.